Why We White-Knuckle the Seasons We'll Miss
What is it about May that makes time feel both five months long and two days short?
Dr. Jennifer Dragonette is back with me to unpack the season we now call Maycember. The graduations, the finals, the last concerts, the last games, the recitals, stacked on field trips, stacked on state testing. The season that asks senior‑level parents to be in three places at once and bring snacks to all of them.
We get into a concept called time travel and why most of us are constantly five minutes ahead or three days behind, but rarely where our feet are. I share a confession about the part I hate most when I am at my own kids’ events, even though I know these are the moments I will later wish I could rewatch.
Dr. Jen and I also talk about a reframe I use with families I work with that has changed how I think about my own time. Would you actually trade places with the version of yourself from five years ago, knowing what you know now? Almost no one I have asked says yes. So what does that say about right now?
This week, try one thing. When you catch yourself rehearsing the next event while still inside the current one, name one thing you can hear, see, or feel in the room. That is the entire intervention. The presence does not have to be philosophical to count.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES YOU MAY LIKE
1 Big Idea to Think About
The very seasons we white‑knuckle through, the graduations and final concerts and last games stacked on top of each other, are the seasons we will later wish we could rewatch. We narrate them as obstacles, while we are inside the arena, we will miss.
1 Way You Can Apply This
When you catch yourself rehearsing the next event while still inside the current one, pick one sensory anchor in the room. One thing you can see, hear, or feel. That is the whole grounding skill. It works in five seconds.
1 Question to Ask
Knowing what you know now, would you actually trade places with the version of yourself from five years ago? If the honest answer is no, what does that say about the version of you five years from now, looking back at this season?
Resources Featured in This Episode:
You Can Always Make More Money, But You Can’t Make More Time